Meet the team

Heather

I’m Heather and I’m the founder and day to day manager of The Bunnyjackpot Foundation. 

I‘ve been working with rabbits and dabbling in rescue for around a decade. This particular labour of love – which was always inevitable – began March 2022 when I moved from my bonding and boarding business to rescuing. Between my work in the rescue community across the UK and my experience working at a rabbit vet when I lived in Australia, I felt it was about time I started making a bigger difference on the rescue scene… and so The Bunnyjackpot Foundation was born!

I am extremely passionate about rabbit welfare and husbandry, with an emphasis on special needs rabbits and companionship. I have three bunnies of my own, Espie, Coppabella and Lizzo, who are bonded to the sanctuary special needs buns: just Stally currently – and a rescue hamster called Tupac. 

Alongside running the rescue I work full time as a project manager for a social care company! My office is situated in the rescue room, so I can work surrounded by my favourite floofs – and it’s not uncommon for a video call with my team to be interrupted by a stamp or a guineapig wheek…! I live in central Bath (known to most as HQ) currently with my partner and my animals and am proudly vegan. 

This rescue is pretty much everything to me. I pour my heart and soul into every animal and every bond and every vet trip I make with the hope that I’ll count towards helping this rabbit crisis across the UK. Advocating for improved rabbit – and other small furries’ – care is as obvious to me as breathing. 

With the help of my awesome, awesome team I’m exceptionally proud of how far this rescue has come in the months we’ve been going… and it would be remiss of me not to say we’re always looking to grow that team so get in touch if you’d like to be a part of it!

Katie

Hi, I’m Katie and I have been fostering for The Bunnyjackpot Foundation for a little while now. 

I currently have 5 bunnies of my own, 2 of which have additional needs; this is what initially drew me to working with The Bunnyjackpot Foundation, with their care and commitment to all small animals and their extensive expertise in special needs rabbits. Rabbits with disabilities shouldn’t be dismissed and with the right support and care can go on to have fulfilled happy lives.

I live in the South-West of England with my husband and 4 children. I work full-time along side fostering but I am lucky enough to do this from home with plenty of flexibility around the fosters and my own animals. I am also studying for a degree in graphic design which has come in handy with the rescue’s newsletters.

I am passionate about small animal welfare and have a long term goal of expanding to accommodate more animals as well as opening a boarding facility.

Amy

Hi I’m Amy, otherwise known as the crazy animal lady.

I’m permanently surrounded by animals from Horses and Dogs to Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, Rats, Hamsters, Mice and Gerbils.

I’m delighted to be part of the Bunnyjackpot foster team and especially like to be involved with the more complex buns be that medical or behavioural.

I am extremely passionate about animal welfare and educating animal guardians on how to do better by their furry friends. I am also an experienced bonder in Rabbits, Guinea Pigs and Rats and strongly believe in them having friends. 

As well as my own animals and the fosterers I currently run both Bluebell Dog Walking and Bluebell’s Rabbit and Guinea Pig Retreat.

Ellen

Hi I’m Ellen , 

I met Heather after I was searching for someone to help me bond two of my rescue buns back together after they fell out shortly after me rescuing them. The bonding service that is provided – The Bunnyjackpot Foundation is second to none !

The support i received when my buns came home was amazing and we became great friends !

Since then my bunnies have been back to HQ to be bonded with a lovely bunny: Blossom, who was from the rescue that was raised by one of the foster mums The Bunnyjackpot Foundation. The adoption service is phenomenal! 

I’m currently helping with the social media side of things and together we are tying to educate and promote the correct animal husbandry and welfare in the hope to make a difference to small animals by creating educational posts to platforms across social media  Being a mum to both rabbits and hamsters I’m really passionate about small animals and love being a part of spreading this message! 

And we have a laugh along the way! 

Annabelle

I’m Annabelle and I look after all things money! 

I rehomed my first bun, Betty, in August 2020 and then, after reading that they should never live alone, I adopted George a few months later. Betty decided that one husbun just wasn’t enough so her and George headed off to HQ in Bath and came home with Tarquin.

I’d been wondering how I could get involved and have even more of an excuse to talk about bunnies all day, so when Heather asked if anyone could help her with an Excel spreadsheet I hopped at the chance 

It’s great to be able to support Heather, who has patiently answered 2,998,748 questions a day since we met. 

My own three bunnies are huge Bunnyjackpot fans and they’re hoping that my new found treasurer role will leave me with less time to photograph their every move.

Beth

Hi, I’m Beth and I am super excited to be introducing myself here as trustee for The BunnyJackpot Foundation. I am the manager of Ivy Dene Rabbit Rescue up in Leeds which I have been running for over 3 years. 

Heather and I have supported each other in our rescue work and formed a great friendship fuelled by our shared drive to make a real difference to rabbits and their welfare in the UK.

We make a great team – with Heather helping to bond some of our more stubborn Ivy Dene residents and her sending over questionable photos to sex rabbits, we complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses well!

I hope my experience in running Ivy Dene full time and growing it as a registered charity will be valuable to Heather on her journey with BunnyJackpot. It’s a journey I am honoured to be a part of. 

When rescues work together towards a common goal, amazing things happen!

Gerry

Hi, I’m Gerry and I’m delighted to be one of the trustees of The Bunnyjackpot Foundation. 

I founded, co-direct and currently work at The Rabbit Doctors, the world’s only rabbit focused clinic – where I see almost 10,000 rabbits a year and get to investigate some of the most complex cases out there! Originally, I was an archaeologist, but changed careers and qualified as a vet in Bristol in 2003 where I worked for a few years, seeing many rabbits but also other large and small animals before emigrating to Australia in 2007. I did my post graduate qualifications in emergency and critical care, and ran an emergency centre in Melbourne for several years, and ended up getting sent most of the areas rabbit emergencies ! In 2014- I opened a gold standard clinic for our favourite furry friends. 

I currently live in Melbourne with my husband and own fluffle of rescue buns – and in my spare time love tea drinking, writing papers on rabbit medicine and quilting! 

A few years ago Heather came to work with me at The Rabbit Doctors for a year and let’s just say I wasn’t surprised when she went on to open her own rescue! She’s my niece and rescuing rabbits runs in the blood…!

As a trustee I am looking forward to supporting the rescue’s mission and being a part of something so important.

Catherine

Hi, I’m Catherine and joined the foster team in December. 

I currently have 1 foster hamsters: Thistle. I hadn’t had hamsters before fostering but am loving caring for them and the support from the foster team is amazing so if you’re thinking of fostering then definitely get in touch and have a chat with us! I’m also about to start fostering guineapigs!

I’ve looked after rabbits for years and found The Bunnyjackpot Foundation when I was looking for a new friend for my old boy Fudge. We found him 3 new friends and he had several months getting up to mischief with them before he had to be put to sleep. I currently have Nyx, Memphis and Denver who were from the big rescue of black dots last year – and recently we added Casper, an ex meat-farm rabbit. I also have two chinchillas and 4 tree frogs. 

This is Memphis who is chief troublemaker and is the first rabbit to get wherever he’s not supposed to go. So cheeky but so cute and loving especially when there’s food.

Alix

I am Alix and I began fostering in Feb 2023. I found The Bunnyjackpot Foundation because Heather bonded our buns Willow and Elsa for us, as well as looking after them for us when we’ve been away.

My husband and I have been guardians of a number of rescued bunnies over the years. This is me with our darling Molly who was one of our first buns. 
I have had the joy of fostering Phillie and her babies Livi and Stirling. It’s been lovely to see them grow…both literally and in confidence.

I would recommend fostering to anyone who wants to help rabbits in need. There is loads of support and it’s great to be part of the team.

Natalie

Hello all I’m Natalie! I joined the foster team here at BJF in January 2023 after seeing and hearing all the great things Heather and the team are doing during the rabbit crisis in the UK.

I live with my two children and our bunnies! We are a crazy animal loving family and adore our bun-babies.

This picture is of Malibu our very first foster bun, she is a dream, we love her! It’s been amazing to see her grow to trust us, show us her adventurous and of course loving side.

Fostering is so rewarding providing a safe, loving space for these bunnies till they find their furever home is so magical. The Bunnyjackpot Foundation and the rest of the foster team are a supportive, friendly, wonderful bunch of people all trying to help one bunny at a time, it is an amazing team to be part of!

Laura

I’m Laura and have been fostering for The Bunnyjackpot Foundation since September 2022. I have my own guinea pigs and house rabbits bonded into different groups. I decided to join the team as I think they do an amazing job at rehoming and rescuing abandoned pets or pets that have been surrendered. 

The support is brilliant and you get a real sense of achievement from helping. My two guinea pigs I foster (Hemsworth and Ruffalo) are perfect house-guests and they’re such funny characters. 

If you want to help out by fostering then I highly recommend it. There are so many unwanted guinea pigs and rabbits out there needing our help!

Serena

Hi I’m Serena and I joined the Bunnyjackpot foster team over the summer! I am really passionate about animal welfare and have had rescue buns for many years now. This is me with my special girl Rosie who I rescued 13 years ago! 

I started fostering because I wanted to use my extra space and time to help rescue bunnies, without the long term commitment of adoption. My first foster has been ex meat farm bun Jellybean, and it’s been an absolute joy to look after her and watch her thrive. 

Fostering is such a wonderful experience and it’s great to be a part of the amazing team at the Bunnyjackpot Foundation!

Leanne

I’m Leanne – maker of The Bunnyjackpot Foundation website, rescue tech support, rabbit foster mum and doting guardian of a trio of buns; Marble, Mallory Pepper. I currently foster Dorit! 

Since first adopting a pair of rabbits in 2018 (sisters Cora & Sinead, both have now sadly died) I’ve just loved sharing my life with them and try to shout about good rabbit welfare where I can.

We live in Cheshire in the North West of England and I’m so glad to be able to support the rescue even from far away.

Jordain

I’m Jordain, rabbit welfare enthusiast and foster bun-mum for The Bunnyjackpot Foundation!

My rabbit journey started with Harvey in 2020, and through the power of positive social media my rabbit welfare education was hard and fast. How could I love this bundle of fluff so much and not want to give him the best possible life. Quickly entered Hetty (2020) and the realisation of how many rabbits were living in rescues. 
Forward to 2022 and a bigger house, Rhubarb joined our clan through the help and support of Heather. 
In early 2023, 3 rabbits in my local area were living in squalor in an unsafe environment, together but not bonded and on completely the wrong diet. Between Heather, myself and the team all 3 now live in amazing homes, with amazing bonds – including Tequila who made my trio a quadtastic fluffle! 

I have continued to foster for Heather knowing that despite making a tiny dent in the rabbit crisis, it’s life changing for the rabbits in our care and together we will continue to advocate, educate and demonstrate.